


Denial

by TheWitchOfTheRock



Series: Lab Partners [6]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Conditioning, Denial, Entrapdak, F/M, Fear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-05 03:48:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20482352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWitchOfTheRock/pseuds/TheWitchOfTheRock
Summary: Hordak suddenly thinks that  he might be in love with Entrapta, but Horde Clones do NOT fall in love.





	Denial

Hordak watched as Entrapta worked overhead, fixing some of the pipes from which coolant had started leaking earlier that day. They figured their work as of late had put some extra strain on the pipes, and before Hordak could suggest some work be done, Entrapta had already lifted herself up with tools and parts, going on about some idea she had. 

Hordak didn’t mind. It was work she could do a lot faster than she could, thanks to her hair. While she was working, he was checking some bugs in a piece of programming he had designed. He was sitting on his throne, watching her swing around and work between checking lines of code. To be honest, he wasn’t getting much done. 

It had only taken a few hours, then Entrapta dropped from above, sitting herself on the arm of Hordak’s throne. “All Fixed!” She said in her normal, happy voice, “I rerouted some of the coolant to a larger pipe, and created a flex-pipe at some of the sharper bends, so if the pressure increases too much, it should be able to take it.”

“Flex bends?”

She grabbed a blueprint from a nearby table, and opened it out in front of him, “See? Hex-panels and a strong silicone sheath connecting them so the pipe can move in any direction, and inflate as needed. It’s not strong enough to use for a whole pipe, the thing would just fall down, but in carefully chosen spots it can allow for greater pressure and reduce damage.” 

“And…. you invented this yourself?”

“Yup! When you mentioned the coolant leaking this morning.”

_ Damn I love this woman. _

Hordak’s eyes widened slightly, and he looked away, “Very good.” He said quickly, “I’ll have this - uh- Put into use in other places in the Fright zone.”

Entrapta blinked, and moved to look at him, “you OK? You look like you just mixed up your ground with your neutral with the power on!" 

“Fine.” He lied, “But I am late for a meeting. You can continue the work with the portal while I'm gone?”

“Of course!” She leapt up and went back over to the portal, talking to Emily as she started pulling tools from her toolkit. 

She didn’t notice get up and flee from the room. 

\------------------------

He took the long way to his personal quarters, ignoring the shortcut that cut through his sanctum. He approached the door, opened it with his code, and strode in allowing the door to close and lock behind him. 

HE slumped to the floor, and put his head in his hands. He took a deep breath. 

Then he cursed very loudly in his native language. 

“Why. Why. WHY is this happening.” he said to himself, “This is NOT supposed to happen to me! I’m a conqueror!” 

Love, of any kind was a distraction. A terrible pull from one's own goals. All the clones were taught better than that. All the clones were conditioned to be incapable. Was this just another flaw. 

“No.” he said to himself, his voice shaking. Then, a little louder, and a little calmer, “No. No, This is fine. This is just…” He let his mind wander. “I am simply unused to companionship. A strong and clever mind. I’m just… Deprived of intelligence being here for so long.”

He stood up and went to a chair in the corner of his quarters. He sat down, perhaps a little more heavily than he’d have liked.

He knew what love caused. 

To be fair, he didn’t know personally, he had never been in love, but love was the stupid feeling. The needless one. Fear was important, it could rile your blood, build your adrenaline. Hate, rage, anger, those were important. Sorrow was an excellent deterrent from failure, even happiness was good to encourage a calm mind. 

Love just encouraged stupid actions. Love made people take stupid risks, stupid sacrifices, and for what? Best case someone still dies in the end. Worst case - unrequited love leaving you look like a moron and pining away for someone who couldn’t care less about you. 

No. There was another worst case. The absolute worst. Betrayal. You fall, and the other person tricks you, uses you to get what they want, and then leaves you ruined and desolate. 

Love was insanity in the horde. He knew Etherians saw it as necessary, and even a part of their biology seemed to require it, so he hadn’t bothered to ban relationships among his soldiers. 

But clones were better than that. 

“It’s just… “ he signed, and rested his face in his hand, his finger and thumb cradling his brow-bones. 

What was it just. Because when he saw her, he felt like there was something trapped in his chest, like a bird struggling to get free. No matter how bad his day was going, all he had to do was see her, and there was a brief spark of happiness. When she wrapped her hair around him, when she played with his hair, when they were intimate. 

Wait. 

Was that the problem?

Etherians equated intimacy to love. Maybe he had been here so long he was getting confused by it, “going native,” as they said. 

The panic that had been growing in him started to calm. Yes, that was all it was. He was confused, and if he knew that, he’d be fine. Of course the most logical course of action was to limit his exposure to her for the time. To stay away from her. 

The thought of that made him feel slightly sick. Was that normal? Was that love? He cursed again. 

He heard something in the vents overhead. A moment passed, and Imp came out of the vents, and jumped onto Hordak’s lap. Hordak idly put his hand on Imp’s neck, rubbing gently. Imp looked up at him, and opened his mouth. 

“I am late for a meeting.” his voice echoed back to him from Imp’s mouth. He closed his mouth and looked up at him, frowning. 

“Yes, I lied.” He muttered. Imp screeched at him.

“Be quiet you.” Hordak snapped. In response Imp opened his mouth again, this time Entrapta’s voice was coming out of him 

“I don’t know Emily. Maybe I upset him? He looked almost sick, and I think at this point he’d tell me if he was feeling sick.” her voice was interrupted by Emily beeping. “Nah, he’s gone to his meeting now. I’ll check on him when he comes back. If he’s sick, I’m sure he’ll tell me.” 

Imp closed his mouth, and gave Hordak a look that said, “Really?” 

Hordak signed, and rubbed his eyes. “It’s...It’s nothing. I just needed a moment.” 

Imp hissed again, and jumped off his lap, standing on the floor and tapping his little foot at him. 

“What?” Hordak snapped, “What do you want??”

Imp silently took off, and scrambled away through the vent. 

He sighed, and stood up. He wouldn’t hide from her. The sick feeling in his stomach was from concern about not progressing as he wanted to. And the very idea that he would fall so low as to fall in love with someone, even someone as fantastic as Entrapta, was almost comical. 

He was Hordak. He was a general, a commander, a conqueror. He was above that. And now that he knew that, now that he knew that really, he was just getting a little confused by the local customs, he’d be fine. He could go see Entrapta, and he could keep his head and - he supposed- his heart under control. 

He left his quarters, and made his way back to his sanctum. The more he thought of it, the better he felt. Knowing the problem was the first step to fixing a problem, and now that he knew the problem, he could control it. 

Everything was fine. 

He entered his sanctum, and found Entrapta working on the portal, soldering something into place. He approached behind her, and she turned around, looking up at him as she pushed her mask off her face. 

“Ah! You’re back! I got a few new ideas on how to improve the power flow to the portal, and some experiments we can work on stabilize it. I think if we - … Hey, are you -sure- you’re OK?”

He felt his heart swell in his chest at her smile. His ears flicked down slightly, and he felt his face contort in slight fear after the initial smile flickered over his face at seeing her. 

Everything was not fine.


End file.
